A gift ban for Pennsylvania officials cleared committee 26-0. It never got a House floor vote

Pennsylvania lawmakers can legally accept gifts, meals and trips as long as they report them, and a bill to change that is one of the measures Spotlight PA listed this week as likely to die when the two-year session ends.

House Bill 744, from Rep. Jared Solomon, a Philadelphia Democrat, would ban cash gifts of any amount to public officials and cap other gifts from one person at $50 a year, the Pennsylvania Capital-Star reported in September. Under current law, lawmakers report gifts worth more than $250 and hospitality, like meals or travel, worth more than $650 on their yearly ethics disclosures, according to the same report.

For residents, the question is what officials who write state laws can accept from people who want something from them, and how much of that the public gets to see.

What the records add

Broad sponsorship. The bill page lists 41 co-sponsors: 23 Democrats and 18 Republicans. The Republicans include Reps. Jim Rigby of Cambria County, Mike Jones of York County and Jason Ortitay.

Nineteen months in committee. The bill was referred to the House State Government Committee on March 3, 2025, and stayed there for 575 days.

What moved it. On Sept. 28, 2026, Jones filed a discharge petition to force the committee to act, the Capital-Star reported. "For too long, both parties have failed to act on this bipartisan legislation," Jones said, according to the report. The next day, the committee voted 26-0 to send the bill to the full House. The motion was made by the committee's chair, Rep. Carol Hill-Evans, a Democrat, and every member of both parties voted yes.

Then the table. The same day, the bill got its first consideration and was "laid on the table," according to its history. A bill on the table cannot get a floor vote until the majority moves to take it off. It has not moved since. There is no House floor roll call on HB 744 this session.

Not the first time. Spotlight PA reported that a similar ban passed the same committee unanimously in October 2021 and also never advanced.

What the Senate has said

Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman, an Indiana County Republican, told the Capital-Star that law and chamber rules are "very clear that we cannot accept anything of value for official action," and said he would be "very willing to look at efforts on transparency." He also defended the State Ethics Commission's work. Spotlight PA reported that he did not say whether he supports a ban.

What happens next

The House session calendar lists two voting days left this session, Nov. 9 and 10, after the election. To become law this year, the bill would need to be taken off the table, pass the House, go through a Senate committee and pass the Senate, all before the session ends. The Senate calendar lists Nov. 17 and 18 as its remaining voting days.

If that doesn't happen, the bill dies and would have to be reintroduced when the new session starts in January. We noted the gift ban among the measures likely to fail in our end-of-session roundup.